COMMEMORATIVES have always been popular in the arts. Three years ago I attended the 10th anniversary of "Les Miz" at Albert Hall in London. This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of playwright Noel Coward and I'll be attending a major tribute to him in England next month. Last year was the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin, hence the tributes to him on PBS. And this year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Frederic Chopin. Not willing to let that benchmark pass, piano teacher Ernie Chang is holding a tribute to Chopin Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Academy of Arts Theater featuring eight of his piano students, all of whom are great fans of the composer. Chang is now just hoping all his featured students shake off the nasty flu bug going around, and one student who was snowbound in Rochester, N.Y. after going there to audition for school next year, can get home in time ... Chopin salute at
Art Academy
THE new Chasen's in Beverly Hills is drawing the glamoratti the way the old one did. When Scruples owner Fred Piluso and date Kamakoa Page met up with his old buddies Bobby Blake and Scott Baio for drinks the other night, they reminisced about the poker game they used to have each Tuesday night at Larry Manetti's house along with Tom Selleck, Dennis Farina and Piluso when he was in town. And when Fred ran into Hugh Hefner at Chasen's, as usual surrounded by a bevy of Playmates, he dropped that Hef's old girlfriend Barbie Benton, now a part-time Hawaii resident, was in the restaurant. Hefner immediately sought her out and the two of them had a little reunion ...
A Tyke attack
PACIFIC Management CEO Steve Hirano was invited to New York as guest of the Sally Jesse Rafael show to come on and talk about how he survived the attack of Tyke, the wayward elephant. Hirano's wife, Amy Hayashi, announced she'd be accompanying him, so she could visit her daughter and grandson (!) who live in New York. Little did she know Sally Jesse wanted her to come on and be interviewed as well. The episode airs here tomorrow, and footage of Tyke's rampage was on "Amazing Videos" last night ...WHAT is it about attorneys and personalized license plates? David Schutter for years has had "SUE EM" on his Rolls, and now Dave Sayre is back from an L.A. business trip on behalf of Aston Hotels with a report of a Mercedes on Wilshire Blvd. with a more mollifying license reading "SETLRSU" ... Some 30 KSSK listeners are off to Vegas today to attending the live broadcast of Perry & Price from the California Hotel. For those not lucky enough to win a trip to Vegas, they can hear the show from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday ...
ELLE magazine has called Hapa a "supergroup" and Hawaii's answer to the pop music of the '90s. The same magazine said hula was a "chic" way to improve posture and keep your midriff in shape. So get set to hula your way through the Hawaii Hotel Association's 21st annual Visitor Industry Charity Walk on Monday. Hapa is the official celebrity spokesduo for the walk ...
Lahaina revisited
ROCK legend Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith and father of actress Liv Tyler, dined with wife Theresa at Nick's Fishmarket Maui this week. It was something of a return to Lahaina for Theresa, who told Nick's G.M. Ron Panzo that she once worked as a waitress at a local seafood restaurant there, but had never tasted anything as delicious as their dinner at Nick's, particularly the abalone. And that's no baloney ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.